Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 93
कुतस्त्वमनुसंप्राप्तो वनेऽस्मिञ्जनवर्जिते । एकाकी सुकुमारांगः पदातिः श्रमविह्वलः
kutastvamanusaṃprāpto vane'smiñjanavarjite | ekākī sukumārāṃgaḥ padātiḥ śramavihvalaḥ
D’où es-tu venu jusqu’à cette forêt déserte d’hommes ? Seul, aux membres délicats, allant à pied, tu sembles accablé de fatigue.
Tāpasas (forest ascetics)
Type: kshetra
Scene: An ascetic or forest-dweller addresses a lone, weary, delicate-limbed traveler/king on a deserted woodland track; the question is compassionate yet probing.
FAQs
The verse frames the forest as a space of tapas (austerity) and detachment, where worldly travel and royal identity are secondary to spiritual purpose.
The immediate verse sets the narrative scene in a peopleless forest within the Nāgarakhaṇḍa’s tīrtha-context; the specific tīrtha is developed in the surrounding passage of the Tīrthamāhātmya.
None directly; it is a narrative inquiry that prepares for later tīrtha-related instructions.